


flash forward (and we're taking on the world together)

by iknowplaces



Category: Glee
Genre: Episode 3x16, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Humour, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24343033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iknowplaces/pseuds/iknowplaces
Summary: Quinn didn’t really know what was happening, but she let Britt place the box on her head, plunging her into darkness. She sat patiently on the desk, as her friend tinkered with the machine. “I’m setting it to like, a month before nationals senior year,” Brittany says, the sound of a spinning dial echoing through the box, “mostly so you’ll know you’re there when you get there and you can tell me if it worked.”orQuinn Fabray goes back in time and runs into a few familiar faces
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Finn Hudson (past), Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Comments: 21
Kudos: 175





	flash forward (and we're taking on the world together)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks, I know you're looking out for speak now part 2 and I promise it's coming, but this just stuck to me and I had to write it. it was and idea that sam (inimitabler on here check out those fics! they're genius!) and I joked about one night based on this scene, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuI-ZDdsSRM. It's a little silly, but I love it, and I hope you do too. 
> 
> The title is from Taylor Swift's Mine and I don't own that song nor do I own Glee, its characters or any of the plotlines mentioned!

Trips home to Lima were always a weird experience for Quinn Fabray. She supposes that’s just how it is when you’re engaged to the woman you bullied in high school, but nonetheless, Quinn would soon find this trip to be far weirder than any she’d had before.

It was a bit of a ritual for them to come early on Monday night so Rachel could spend Tuesday with Mr. Schue’s glee club, before they’d have their Thanksgiving break. Quinn typically would sit patiently on a chair off to the side, while Rachel joked with them, talked about the Tonys, whatever they wanted to know about being a famous actress. Occasionally she’d answer a question about her own career, but the focus was mostly on Rachel, as she liked it.

Today was much the same, until she got a text. The text was from one Brittany S. Pierce, who was also here today, to speak to the Cheerios, at Coach Sylvester's insistence. This message had nothing to do with that though, it just read _Q, come to Mr Schue’s Spanish room!_

At that moment, Rachel lets the class take a break from the short dance number she was teaching them, wandering over to where Quinn was seated. “Hey,” she says, resting a hand on Quinn’s shoulder as she reaches for her bottle of water.

“Hey baby,” Quinn says, “do you mind if I head out for a minute? Britt wants me to meet her in the Spanish room for some reason.”

Rachel smiles at her, “Of course not,” she says, setting the water bottle down, “I wonder what she wants.”  
  
Quinn stands, shaking her head, “Who knows, it’s Britt, it could be anything,” she says.

Rachel hums, “Okay, well have fun, I’ll see you later honey,”

“Okay,” Quinn agrees, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, “bye Rach.”

Quinn leaves the room, just as Rachel starts teaching again. She enters the hallways she’d walked a million times before, once again noting that very little has changed, if anything. The colours were the same, the pictures on the walls, all the same. The way to Mr Schue’s classroom, the exact same. She enters the door, and sure enough, there’s Brittany, tinkering with a box that was set on a desk. Quinn hadn’t the foggiest idea what it was. She doesn’t say anything, and it seems Brittany doesn’t notice her, for at least a minute and a half. “Britt?” Quinn asks quietly, startling her. 

“Quinn! Don’t scare me like that! I could break it!” Brittany says, turning her eyes right back to the box. 

Quinn apologizes, walking further into the room, sitting on a desk beside Brittany. “What… is it?” she asks, trying to be as tactful as possible.

“My time machine Q,” she says, like it’s obvious, “and I’d like for you to test it out.”

“Uhhh,” Quinn says, looking at the machine, “why me?”

“You just seemed like the right choice, better not to ask questions,” Brittany says, taking the box off the table and opening the bottom.

Quinn didn’t really know what was happening, but she let Britt place the box on her head, plunging her into darkness. She sat patiently on the desk, as her friend tinkered with the machine. “I’m setting it to like, a month before nationals senior year,” Brittany says, the sound of a spinning dial echoing through the box, “mostly so you’ll know you’re there when you get there and you can tell me if it worked.”

Quinn didn’t think it would, but she wasn’t going to tell Brittany that. “Okay Q, we’re almost ready. I’m gonna set it for one hour, and when the time’s up, you’ll zap right back here like nothing happened. You should arrive at 2:42pm, so prepare for 3:42.”

Quinn hums loudly, assuming this was nothing she’d really need to worry about. Then, Brittany forcefully presses something on the box, a humming noise starts, and Quinn begins to lose feeling in her legs. “Bye Quinn, see you later!” Brittany says.

As the feeling in her legs went, the rest goes quickly, shaking through Quinn’s whole body, worse than when she’d ever felt before. The box started to shake violently around her, and then suddenly, it all stopped. She sits for a moment, unmoving, uncertain of what just happened. She figured it was some sort of prank, not sure how Brittany executed it, but she was smart so anything was possible, maybe she shocked Quinn or something. “Britt?” Quinn asks, to no response.  
  
That was a bit strange. 

“Brittany?” she calls one more time. Nothing.

Quinn shrugs, lifting the box right over her head. Sure enough, Brittany had vacated the room, which furthered Quinn’s theory that this was some kind of prank that was being played on her. They were trying to convince her she went back in time, but she wouldn’t believe it, not when everything in the room was exactly the same as it was before. She wasn’t stupid.

Quinn sets the “time machine” on the desk beside her, looking around the classroom for any trace of Brittany. She calls out for her one more time, rolling her eyes at her antics, before pushing her way out of the classroom looking for her. Just like she thought, everything was the same as before, nothing out of place. Quinn can’t believe Brittany thought she could trick her like this. It almost hurt her feelings that she thought she was that dumb!

She’s walking down the hallway to the gym where she assumes Brittany is when her phone vibrates against her leg. She pulls it out of her pocket, noticing the notification from Rachel’s twitter account. Yes she had her fiancée’s twitter notifications on, and good thing she did, because the tweet simply read _Anyone who’s engaged to me should come to the auditorium._

Quinn smiles a little, still not entirely used to the fact that her and Rachel were engaged. She loved it, it made her heart flip in her chest every time she saw it, and she went a little crazy every time Rachel so much as mentioned it. 

Quinn didn’t even bother to respond, she just happily jogged to the auditorium, forgetting all about finding Brittany.

///

Quinn enters the auditorium she’s been in a thousand times before, looking up to see Rachel standing facing away from her. She smiles brightly, quietly walking over to Rachel, slotting her arms around her waist. “Hey baby,” she says, frowning as she feels Rachel stiffen in her arms.

Rachel always melded right into Quinn. 

“Uh, excuse me?” Rachel says, turning around, looking right at Quinn, and oh fuck.

“Oh,” Quinn says, sucking in a deep breath and immediately removing her arms from Rachel’s waist, “well, you are not… you are not Rachel.”

Rachel frowns, her eyebrows drawing together. “I am, uh, definitely Rachel,” she says, her eyes locked on Quinn.

“Well, uh, yeah,” she says, because what the fuck is happening right now? Did Brittany’s time machine actually work? There was no way that was fucking possible. 

Rachel stares at her, and Quinn does the same right back. The girl in front of her was her fiancée obviously, but it was her fiancée from eight years in the past. Exactly the time Brittany said she’d be going to. This just couldn’t be real.

Quinn turns, running her fingers through her hair, “Fuck,” she whispers under her breath, because nothing else seems to be formulating in her brain right now.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel says, in the voice Quinn knows is her not _actually_ sorry voice but just really confused and borderline angry, “but what is going on right now? Because none of this is making any sense to me. You look like Quinn Fabray, but you also look… older, uh, not in a bad way, you actually look great, maturity has really worked in your favour because wow, I mean you’re still like the prettiest person I’ve ever seen, but uh, that’s not the point. I saw Quinn Fabray like thirty minutes ago, and she still looked eighteen, so I’m not quite sure what gives.” 

Quinn sighs. She hasn’t the foggiest idea how to explain this. She didn’t have half a clue what was going on herself. “Uh, god, I’m going to sound fucking crazy, but… I’m Quinn from the future,” she says, and she can’t believe how much of a cheesy line that is.

“Excuse me?” Rachel says, eyes widening.

"Yeah,” she says, rubbing her eyes, “I know how ridiculous that sound—”

Rachel interrupts her. “Yes it sounds ridiculous, and absolutely untrue, how could you be from the future?” 

“Brittany sent me here, lord only knows why, with a time machine she invented. Obviously I didn’t believe it was real, so I humoured her,” she says, “and it as it turns out, it works. I really didn’t think it did, I mean this damn school looks the same eight years in the future, but you don’t.”  
  
Rachel grimaces. “I don’t age poorly do I?” she says, then shakes her head, “no. That’s not important. What’s really important is why you just came gallivanting in here and wrapped your arms around me like it was something you do often. What’s with that?”  
  
Quinn’s face slides into a tiny half smile. Rachel from the past had a lot coming for her. The fact that Quinn did regularly wrap her arms around her in the future is knowledge that she thinks might kill Rachel. She figures she should start with Rachel’s first question. “You age great honestly, but you’re only twenty-six so it’s not like you’re old,” Quinn says, watching as Rachel’s shoulders drop just a bit in relief, “as for, uh, my entrance, I saw your tweet and assumed you wanted me here, so I greeted you in a way I of—”

“I got your tweet,” Finn Hudson says as he enters the auditorium, and once again, fuck. Quinn had all but forgotten he was in the picture. “Anyone who’s engaged to me should come to the auditorium.”  
  
Quinn lets out a choked sound, somewhere between a laugh and a deep sigh, both pairs of eyes turning to her. A dopey, confused look falls onto Finn’s face. “Uh,” he says, the wheels in his brain clearly not turning, “Quinn, why do you look like… older? Did Kurt like age you with makeup? Or are you Quinn’s sister? Also what are you doing here? Rachel specifically tweeted out to people engaged to her, and I don’t think you apply… Quinn or Quinn’s sister, whoever you are.”  
  
He sounds almost mad about it. Quinn has to hold back a laugh.The future would be a shock for him. Or, right now could be a shock too. She figures if Rachel had remembered this incident she’d tell her, so there was no harm in having some fun. “I’m Quinn, from eight years in the future,” she says, not really caring to soften the blow for Finn, “and I came to the auditorium, because Rachel tweeted for anyone who’s engaged to her to join her here, so I did as I was told, obviously.”

Both Finn and Rachel looked like they were about to pass out. “Time travel isn’t real,” he says dumbly.

“It appears it is, because here I am, eight years in the past, having to deal with you being engaged to the love of my life once again.” 

“The… what of your… what?” Rachel says, like her mind just absolutely cannot wrap around this concept.

“This has got to be a fucking gag,” Finn says, “stop messing with us, Quinn. There’s no way you’re from the future, and there’s absolutely no way you’re engaged to Rachel. We’re getting married.”

Quinn shakes her head. “What would I gain from pranking you like that? I’m from the future. I’m engaged to Rachel. That’s the truth.”

“Well, prove it,” he says.

Quinn raises an eyebrow, uncertain how exactly to prove she was engaged to her fiancée, eight years younger than she was now, with her _current_ fiancé. “Well, this,” she says, raising her hand, to show off the diamond ring Rachel had picked out for her, “it’s Tiffany’s, you told me right when we started getting serious that if we were to get engaged, the ring had to be from there, because well, we were in New York, and how could we not get our rings from that iconic store you’d been dreaming of since you were a kid. Yours cost me a fortune, I had to get it specially made with the round stone in the middle, and the marquise cut ones to the side, and you said the gold had to have a soft hold on the stones, not the sharp one that was typical. I still wonder what kid had such a specific image of what their wedding ring was going to be, but you told me it was all you wanted, way before we were together, and the look on your face was _so_ worth it. That alone almost made me cry.”

Rachel lets out a choked sigh, looking at her hands and twisting the ring that’s currently sitting on her finger, the one that doesn’t match the dream that she’s had for a long time. Quinn knows Rachel would never say something about it to Finn, she’s not that materialistic and she knows he’s a high schooler, but Quinn also knows that Rachel wants that dream to come true. That’s why Quinn had gotten it for her. That’s why Quinn was letting Rachel take the reins on a lot of things about their wedding. She wanted Rachel to have everything she’d ever wanted. “Okay, so what? You have a ring and you know something that Rachel could’ve told present day Quinn. That doesn’t mean you’re from the future!”

Quinn just shakes her head, “Why would Rachel tell past me that? We were never that close.”

Finn sputters for a moment. “I don’t know, but I still don’t believe it, Rachel’s going to be my wife, and none of the things you’re telling us make any sense.”

“Fine,” Quinn sighs, “I have a ton more things I could tell you about Rachel that only someone about to get married to her would know. You should know them after all.”

Nodding, Finn crosses his arms across his chest, like he’s got her beat. “Okay,” she says, collecting her thoughts, “Rachel has always wanted a third floor apartment, as close to broadway as possible. Third floor in specific because any higher and she wouldn’t be able to get out in the event of a fire, and no lower because then there’s less of a chance someone could rob her through her window.”

Rachel nods, and Finn bristles, Quinn knows it’s information he doesn’t know. She continues, “Rachel likes to watch Funny Girl at least twice a month, more if she’s sick or sad, and she likes it when I’m, or I guess you right now, are there, because she’s always dreamt of being with someone who’s not just tolerant of her interests but loves to enjoy them with her. It’s cute, and you know what, I really like Funny Girl too, especially because she always looks so happy singing under her breath. I love it.”

Rachel’s looking at her shoes, like she knows how right Quinn is, and as Quinn is speaking of her she’s pretty sure she does. Finn’s shaking his head, and Quinn knows one final thing that will send the killing blow. “Now, this is information I could probably extrapolate from knowing Rachel, no one would be surprised she wants to live near Broadway, no one would ever doubt that Rachel likes to watch Funny Girl,” she says this just to spite Finn, who by the almost green look on his face, had no idea about these things, and then continues, “but, one thing I couldn’t extrapolate is a certain fact from all of our pasts, something I know Rachel hasn’t yet told me from this time. I know that Rachel picked out my corsage for junior prom.” 

This is a near distant memory for Quinn, something Rachel had told her years ago when they just started dating, but to the Finn and Rachel in front of her, she knows it’s much closer in their memories. “Gardenias, they’re gonna be the central flower for our wedding arrangements, because of that. We knew it was perfect. The other flowers, we’ve been fighting a bit about, but that was a given, because you chose them for me,” she finishes.

Rachel finally looks up at her, tears swimming in her eyes, and Quinn’s heart immediately clenches. She’s never been good with Rachel being upset. “So you’re from the future,” Rachel whispers, like she can’t get the words out, “and we’re getting married.”

“Yes, this June, I couldn’t be more happy,” Quinn says, “that’s uh, June, 2021.” 

Rachel nods once again, like it’s the only thing she can do, like she doesn’t know what else to say. It’s silent for a moment, Quinn looks at her feet, not sure what else to do. She’s proved her point, but what now? Finally, Rachel says something. Something that is totally predictable, and so Rachel in a way that somehow makes Quinn’s heart soar. That was the woman she loved alright. “So, you’re from the future,” is how it starts, “which means you know… I mean, have I won a Tony yet?”

Quinn laughs, the smile on her face widening. She’s so predictable, and Quinn loves it. She goes to answer, when Finn shakes his head once again. “No, I wanna know something actually important,” he says, Quinn immediately gapes at him, why would he say something like that about Rachel’s dreams? Oh right. Because he was Finn. “Why didn’t Rachel and I get married?” 

“I mean, the way you reacted just now probably is part of the reason,” Quinn says, “but I think the official reason was just that you didn’t work in the real world. You sent her on her way to New York and then didn’t call her for months. When you finally did get in touch, you moved to New York, and you hated it. It just wasn’t right at all. To my understanding, you dumped her, and came right back here. You own the tire shop.”

Finn looks at her, his mouth dropped, his eyebrows drawn. He starts shaking his head again, pacing around the room before he stops, and just glares at Quinn. “No. That can’t be true, I would never do that to her, we’re going to go to New York together! Maybe you’re from the future, but that’s not our future,” he says, “c’mon Rachel, I don’t want to be here anymore.”

He leaves, without making sure she’s following, and she’s not. They both watch him leave, and then Rachel’s eyes rise to Quinn. Quinn smiles at her. “You win a Tony,” she says, “you play Fanny Brice, and everyone says you’re the new Barbra. You’re always telling them no one could be the new Barbra, that she’s the only one, but I know from the sneaky smile that you get that it means the absolute world to you. I’m really proud of you, I told everyone I work with that you won a tony, they kind of want me to shut up about it honestly, but I probably never will. I just was so excited you achieved your dreams.”

Rachel lets out a grandiose sigh, her eyes still staring at Quinn, almost disbelieving. There’s a tiny smile on her face, and Quinn can tell she’s excited to hear that, but she’s burdened by everything else that she’s been told. “You can ask me you know,” Quinn says, “whatever it is that you want to know.”

Rachel’s eyes dart to Quinn’s hand, staying there for a second, probably just acknowledging the physical evidence that one day she’d be marrying Quinn Fabray. “Uh, well, how does this… happen? We’re just barely friends now. I mean I was half convinced that you, or present Quinn I guess doesn’t like me.”

Quinn laughs, shaking her head. “Present Quinn, past Quinn, senior year Quinn, whatever you want to call her, definitely likes you Rachel, you don’t have to worry about that,” she says, reassuring her, knowing the crush she’d had on Rachel during her last year of high school was huge as it always had been, “as for us, it happened pretty soon after Finn was out of the picture. You sent me emails all the time, and we visited frequently, I bought us metro passes, and we definitely got our money’s worth. When Finn left you, you came straight to me, I comforted you, and eventually it just morphed into something more. You told me you loved me the summer between our second and third years at school when we were just hanging out together back in Lima, and it was one of the best moments of my life, to this day.”

Rachel once again looks down at her shoes, “Wow,” she says, “that’s… that’s honestly wonderful. I guess I have a lot to look forward to.”

“You do, so many good things,” Quinn says, because it’s true. 

Her life with Rachel has been wonderful up to this point, with just so much love, and there’s only more to come. Quinn feels like the luckiest person in the world. Rachel though, looks like she’s about to start hyperventilating. “Is it bad?” she says, as if Quinn can read her mind, “is it bad that I don’t feel upset like Finn did? I… feel… relieved, all I can feel is relief and clearly he didn’t feel that way. Is there something wrong with me?”

Quinn instantly shakes her head, “No, no of course not, Rachel,” she says, trying once again to collect her thoughts, to say this in a nice way, “you got way better news than he did, and I mean, given what I know, I think you always knew the two of you would fall apart.”

Rachel looks pensive, eyes roaming the theatre. “He fell asleep during Funny Girl,” she says, “didn’t even make an excuse about being tired. Just said it was boring.”

There’s a tiny grin on Rachel’s face, and Quinn can’t help but return it. “I really do like it,” Quinn says, “probably not as much as you of course.”

“Well, that would be hard, because I’m the biggest Funny Girl fan in the world,” Rachel says, the smile widening, “I’m glad it paid off, winning a Tony as Fanny Brice? That’s pretty much at the top of all my dream boards.”

“I know, you absolut—” 

“Rachel?” a voice calls from the wing, and it sounds eerily familiar to Quinn.

Eyes widening, Rachel turns to look, and sure enough, entering the theatre is Quinn Fabray, years younger than the Quinn standing across from Rachel now. “Is everything okay? I saw Finn running out looking pissed,” Past Quinn calls out.

“Uh, yeah,” Rachel says, reaching out to stop her from entering, but it’s too late.

Past Quinn makes direct eye contact with Future Quinn, and takes in a quick shaky gasp. Just then, the whole encounter zaps back to Future Quinn, sending an odd sense of déjà vu swimming through her. “Uh,” Past Quinn says, “I’m sorry, who the fuck are you?” 

Future Quinn takes in a deep breath, stepping closer. She can’t help but wish they could’ve avoided this interaction. “Well, I’m you,” she says, even though she’s sure it’s obvious.

“You’re me?” Past Quinn says, “am I hallucinating?”

“Quinn, uh, this is Quinn, from eight years in the future,” Rachel says, before Future Quinn can say anything.

“That’s not possible,” Past Quinn says, though Future Quinn knows she must be coming to terms with it, because how else would it make sense.

“Seems it is, Brittany invented it,” Future Quinn assures her.

“Okay, well if you’re me,” Past Quinn says, “tell me something only I would know.”

“You have a huge crush on Rachel,” Future Quinn says, completely deadpan.

Past Quinn’s eyes widen. “What the fuck Quinn?” She says, “she’s right there! She’s not supposed to know, she’s getting married to fucking Finn!”

“Oh trust me I know,” Rachel mutters, garnering immediate attention from Past Quinn. 

“Am I that obvious?” Past Quinn says nervously.

“No…” Rachel says, looking to Future Quinn, “I just heard about the future.”

Past Quinn’s eyes mist over, hope brewing in them as she turns her gaze to Future Quinn, “No way,” she says, “she’s not saying what I think she’s saying, is she?”  
  
Future Quinn smiles at her younger self, “Well, if you think she’s saying that you get engaged to her in the future, then you are definitely thinking it.”

“You’re joking,” Past Quinn says, “you came all the way from the future to fuck with me! That’s pretty screwed up, coming here to say oh, I’m getting married to Rachel Berry, and I’ll be all hopeful, and it won’t happen in eight years like you said!”

“Quinn, what would I get from going back into the past to play a practical joke on you? I’m honest to god engaged to Rachel Berry,” Future Quinn says, holding up the ring again, “you can ask Rachel, I already convinced her.”

Past Quinn’s eyes shift to Rachel, “You believe this shit? I mean, you’re engaged to Finn,” 

Rachel smiles a little bit, “She was very convincing, and I mean, it’s not really all that surprising, Finn and I probably won’t work in the real world, and I’ve always had a bit of a crush on you, I just figured you weren’t gay, and definitely wouldn’t like me.”

“Don’t worry Rachel, we are very _very_ gay,” Future Quinn says, a smirk on her face, “especially for you, as she is struggling to admit.”

Past Quinn groans, “You’re just going to tell her everything about us?”

“You’re gonna tell her all this anyways and you both won’t remember this happening, so who cares? She’s gonna be your wife Quinn, share your pain,” Future Quinn teases.

“My wife, god,” Past Quinn mutters, sounding almost awed.

“Yeah, I know, the fact that she’s marrying me blows my mind everyday,” Future Quinn agrees.

Rachel lets out a shaky breath of air, one Future Quinn knows means she’s close to tears. “It’s hard for me to believe you really feel that way about me,” she whispers, so soft Future Quinn can barely hear her.

“I do, even right now,” Past Quinn says, “like she said, it’s been hard for me to admit, but I feel really strongly for you Rachel, and hearing that we get engaged whether true or not, kinda makes my heart skip a beat. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like once we’re actually together, I mean, I bet she’s just absolutely crazy for you.”

“It’s true, Santana bullies me constantly, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,”

Rachel looks between the two of them, a tear slipping down her cheek. She takes one moment to breathe, and then she turns, almost running to Past Quinn, throwing her arms around her. Future Quinn watches as Past Quinn reacts with surprise, but quickly wraps Rachel up tightly in her arms. Her eyes slide closed, resting her face against Rachel’s head. Future Quinn wonders if she looks that peaceful holding Rachel, and she’s sure she does. “I can’t wait to be engaged to you,” Rachel says quietly to Past Quinn, and god, is Future Quinn glad she can hear it. 

It was the first time her future wife had admitted she wanted to marry her, and it feels so surreal. Rachel was moved, wanted to be with her since they were eighteen. Seems Rachel Berry never stops blowing her mind.

Eventually she peels her eyes away from her past self and Rachel as they continue to just hold each other, and looks down at her watch. 3:38pm. Shit. She was going to be zapped back soon, if that part of Brittany’s plan worked out. Maybe she should touch base with Brittany before it happened. That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Knowing her, she would somehow know what would happen to Quinn. “Hey,” she says to Past Quinn and Rachel, “either of you wouldn’t happen to know where Brittany is would you?”

“Uh, earlier she said she’d be in the Spanish room after school?” Past Quinn says, sounding a little mad their hug was interrupted. 

Quinn wonders if it was just a coincidence that Brittany would be there, where she arrived in this time period to start. “Okay, thanks, bye you two, see you in eight years,” she says, booking it out of the theatre and to the Spanish room.

///

When she makes it, sure enough, a younger Brittany is there, staring curiously at the time machine before her. Quinn opens the door, and Brittany raises her head to look at her. “Oh my god, you’re old,” she says, “does that mean this is what I think it is? Did I perfect my time machine?”

“Seems you did Britt,” Quinn says, “you said I would just go back to my time at 3:42, do you know if I will?”

“Oh my god, I must be a genius,” Brittany says, raising a screwdriver to the time machine.

Quinn checks her watch. 3:40pm. “Britt, you are, but am I just going to go back or not?”

Brittany hums, “I would put this on, just in case, but you should go straight back,”

Quinn does as she’s told, sliding the box back onto her head. 

“When do I get the time machine figured out, Q?” Brittany asks.

“November 2020,” she says. 

“Eight years, that must be record time for building a time machine,” Brittany says confidently, but before Quinn can respond, the humming starts, the box shakes, and the feeling in her body disappears.

Once it stops, Quinn quickly removes the box from her head, and in front of her is the once again twenty-seven year old Brittany S. Pierce. “How was your trip?” Brittany asks eagerly.

“It was pretty fucking weird Britt,” she says, “I’m not going to lie, scaring the eighteen year old version of my fiancée by hugging her was not really something I thought I was going to do today. Nor did I think I would be outing my past crush on Rachel to her.”

“Sounds like fun, I’m so glad it works! I have to start planning me and San’s trips, hmm,” she says, already in her head.

“Right, thank you Britt, I’m going to go find Rachel,” she says, watching as her friend just nods absent-mindedly.

Quinn nearly runs out of the room, eager to find Rachel and tell her about her adventures.

///

Quinn gets to the choir room in record time, only to find out Rachel’s still teaching her lesson. Apparently her hour long journey had lasted literally no time at all in her current timeline, and now she was going to have to wait.

The rest of the time with the glee club is the longest half hour of Quinn’s life, but finally they’re done, and Rachel comes sauntering over to her. “Hey darling,” she says, leaning down to kiss Quinn, “what did Britt want?”

“You’re not gonna believe it,” Quinn says, grabbing Rachel’s hand and leading her away from prying ears that might get Brittany’s invention given to the government or something.

She takes Rachel to their car, opening her door for her and then sliding into the other side. “So, as it turns out, Brittany has invented a time machine,” Quinn says.

“Well that’s cute, did you pretend to go back in time?” Rachel says, with a little giggle.

“No, actually, that’s the thing,” she says, “it worked. I went back to senior year. I talked to you.”

Rachel looks at her then, and suddenly it dawns on her. “Oh my god,” she says, “I can’t believe I didn’t remember that. You showed up in the past, and told me we were engaged. That was like the most life changing thing I’d ever heard, how could I forget?”

“I think however Brittany’s time travel works you are just set up to forget, not really your choice,” Quinn says, “but going back now and remembering, it was pretty enlightening.”

“Remembering is for me too!” Rachel says, “I mean I know I’ve known this for years, but you had a crush on me in high school! You said the thought of marrying me made your heart skip a beat. When we were eighteen Quinn, wow.”

Quinn smiles, leaning over to give her a sweet kiss. “And it still does, baby, I am so lucky to get to marry you,” she says, because reminding Rachel just how much she wants this always feels right, “but you know what the best part was? Aside from knocking Finn down a peg or two, that is.” 

“What was it Quinn?” she asks, her gaze fixed on Quinn adoringly.

“You, eighteen years old, still engaged to Finn, saying you couldn’t wait to be engaged to me,” she says, reaching out for Rachel’s hand, “knowing you’ve wanted to marry me since senior year of high school, even if it was buried deep in your subconscious? That drives me a little crazy. I love it. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Rachel says, squeezing Quinn’s hand, “and I’m not surprised this has been a long time coming. I think I am inextricably bound to you, Quinn Fabray.”

“I can’t wait to make that inextricable bond legal,” Quinn teases, kissing Rachel again.

“You and me both, Fabray, gotta hitch you to me before you can get away,” she teases right back.

“Mhm, I’m not going anywhere, right here is the only place, or time for that matter, that I want to be.”

**Author's Note:**

> okay, I hope you enjoyed it! if you did, please comment and kudos it would mean the world to me!


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